


Between the lines

by Tashilover



Series: In between spaces [2]
Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: M/M, dub-con, magical au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-09
Updated: 2013-11-09
Packaged: 2017-12-31 22:32:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1037131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tashilover/pseuds/Tashilover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every gift comes with a price.</p><p> </p><p>Sequel to 'Thrice'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between the lines

It was not about sex. A lot of humans think it was, but they never really bothered to ask. The sex was just a bonus. The real reason why creatures of the Night wanted virgins because it was direct contact with their  _soul_.

It didn't matter if the sex was bad, good, or indifferent. It was about connection.  _Nobody_  ever forgot their firsts. And to have that much of an impact on a human being, to have your name written into their very core was like drinking nectar from the Gods. It was an incredible, powerful feeling. Nothing could compare.

Martin was a virgin. God it was so obvious, Douglas didn't need his extra-sense to tell. Though it did make him question why. Martin was a decent looking bloke and an airline captain; he should have a line a mile long of ladies wanting to see him.

Then again, it was  _Martin_. Last week he tripped on his own shoelace and cut his elbow so badly he needed stitches. There was a good chance every time someone got close enough, he scared them off. Or perhaps accidentally killed them.

But Douglas thought for sure at some point Martin was going to walk through MJN's door and the smell of virgin was going to be gone from him. Martin was seeing a rather cute young woman by the name of Lucy for a few weeks now. By the second month of their dating, Douglas was awaiting that day.

Then one morning Douglas walked in to find Martin sulking, sitting at the dingy little table in the MJN office, his head in his arms. He still smelt of virgin.

"Bad night?" Douglas asked.

"I broke up with Lucy last night," Martin said, his voice muffled.

" _You_  broke up with  _her_? Oh my, what ever for? Did she insult Gerti?"

"No... she..." Martin lifted his head up to explain. His mouth turned sour as he got out the next words. "She was going too fast and pressuring me."

"Pressuring you? Why, she wanted get married?"

Martin shook his head. "No. She wanted... sex. And I refused."

"Ah."

Douglas wanted to ask why. If he were a full-blooded fae, he wouldn't have hesitated. He would have jumped over that question, trying to break Martin down and find a way to sneak into his defenses. Douglas stomped down on that feeling. If Martin didn't want to freely give a reason why he didn't want to have sex, Douglas was not going to ask.

To give something and to take something held different levels of power. Douglas would not put Martin in either position.

Martin looked back at the office door. He was staring at it in deep concentration, his lips pursing. He then got up, opened the door, made sure nobody else was going to walk through at any moment, closed it and said, "Can you keep a secret?"

"Martin, you have a vial of my blood. Even if I couldn't, you have ways to punish me."

The vial always sat in Martin's inner jacket pocket, right over his heart. It was useless to him, but the sentiment of where it sat was a proud moment for Douglas.

"Only a few people in the world know about this," continued Martin in a low voice. "When I was seven, my parents took me to a soothsayer. They were trying to figure out why I was so immune to magic even though I wasn't a firstborn. Why I had more immunity than that even of. It was then my parents discovered my rare ability."

"Oh..." said Douglas, slowly catching on to what Martin was hinting at. "There's a catch, isn't there?"

"According to the soothsayer... my immunity is directly connected to my virginity. If I have sex... I lose my ability."

Douglas jerked. He sputtered. "That's... who... why..."

"I know!" Martin cried out. "At first I had thought to myself,  _why that's no big deal. I can easily avoid that_. Then  **puberty**  happened."

"And has this virginity clause been confirmed by anybody else?" Douglas asked. Martin shook his head. "Then how do you know if it's even true? You should talk to a few psychics, get different opinions."

"I don't want to advertise my immunity to psychics."

"I know a few psychics who can keep their mouths- and minds- shut. Do you want me to ask them to confirm this for you?"

Douglas only had the taste of virgin flesh  _once_  in his life. He was sixteen, she was seventeen, and  _she_  had come to  _him_. That was over thirty years ago and though Douglas had not seen Jessica in just as long, he could still feel her as if she was standing right next to him. Even if Jessica found her soul mate, Douglas would forever take up a place in her life.

Maybe Douglas was doing this for selfish reasons. Maybe he was doing this for Martin. Either way, Martin should know, and have the option to give that type of gift to somebody.

Martin nodded. "Please."

 

 

 

 

Cassandra pulled her hands away. She sighed, rubbed at her eyes and said, "The soothsayer was right. If you lose your virginity, Martin, you lose your immunity."

Martin didn't look disappointed. He hadn't given himself much hope for a different answer. "I see," he said. "Well, thank you for confirming that, Miss Cassandra. At least I now have no doubts in my mind."

He started getting up and Douglas held a hand out. "Wait, Martin, just wait. Cassandra, is there some loophole we can take advantage of? A spell we can perform?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, the rules are pretty cut and dry on this one. That kind of power has a high price to pay."

"It's alright, Douglas," Martin said, resigned. "I saw this coming in. Um... if you excuse me, I kind of want to be alone at the moment..."

Douglas didn't follow him but he wanted to. "Is there no hope for him?" He asked Cassandra.

"He can always adopt," said Cassandra. "Buuuut this is not about children, I take it?"

"Maybe it is. I really don't know."

 

 

 

 

They don't speak of it. Douglas acknowledged this was Martin's business and Douglas had no opinion on the matter. And yet he knew the subject was on Martin's mind constantly. He could see Martin touching the blood vial through his suit pocket, his fingers pinching around the glass. He would only do it for a few seconds, then drop his hand. Then maybe, in another hour or so, he would touch it again.

For two months the subject was never brought up. Then, on the eve of Martin's thirty-fourth birthday, Martin waited till the GERTI was completely turned off before turning to Douglas and saying, "I've made my decision. I'm giving up my immunity."

Douglas' mouth dropped. His hand paused on his seatbelt, fingers still clasped around the hitch. "Martin... why would you..."

"Because I don't want to be a thirty-four year old virgin," Martin said. He giggled almost bitterly. "It's more than just sex, Douglas. I'm tired of the secrets, I'm tired of the lies... and despite what you think, the government does know of my immunity. Every six months they try to recruit me into the army. It'll be so damn nice to have them off my back finally."

Douglas wished he could say something. He wanted to tell Martin to stop, to rethink his decision. His immunity was a gift from the Gods and he shouldn't squander that away because he was 'sick and tired' of being a virgin.

"I still have your blood," Martin said hurriedly, taking out the vial from his pocket and holding it up for Douglas to see. "Thanks to this, I don't have to worry about protection. I already have it."

Douglas couldn't keep quiet. He had to say something. "But it's not perfect protection," he said. "Your immunity  _is_."

"It's  _my_  life," Martin said, his voice edging on the desperate. "Do you know how many life changing decisions were made because of this? Last year I went to Fitton's air museum and I accidentally touched the edge of the hover spell they had on the planes. Thirty-three World War Two planes crashed to the ground and every single one broke their wings."

Douglas snorted. "Oh my God, that was  _you_?" He remembered hearing about that on the news. The police thought it was result of anti-war activists.

"It's not funny!" Martin said. The side of his mouth was quirking upwards regardless. "I have no control over this. I can't suppress it, I can't control the range. When my grandmother was dying, I couldn't even see her in the hospital because I would have canceled out the magic that kept her from feeling pain. You think it's a gift from the gods. But for me, it's mostly been a burden."

 _Burden_. The word spoke volumes.

As often as Douglas loved to enchant his colleagues with tales of his infallible self-confidence and luck, in truth, Douglas did not look upon his childhood with great nostalgia. As a half-breed, he was always toeing the line between human and fae. Always unsure what was considered acceptable in one culture and what was downright offensive in the other.

When his fae mother used to bring him to her midnight parties, Douglas was always leered at, like he was a bug on the bottom of someone's shoe. Sometimes the full bloods would reach out and snatch  _handfuls_  of hair from the top of his head, wanting to see if he bled like a human or fairy.

When his human father took him to theatre plays, the anti-magic shields were like placing a pillow over Douglas' face, smothering him with its intensity. When Douglas attended school, the students would flinch from him because of the way he would unconsciously sniff the air, searching for magic.

It took years to find a balance, to appreciate and love both sides of his heritage. If you had asked fourteen year old Douglas if he liked being a half-breed, he probably would have started crying.

Douglas sympathized. He didn't agree with Martin, thought he was making a  _terrible_  mistake, but Douglas sympathized. If Martin wanted to do something to make his life easier, happier, he had that right. "I see..."

Martin bit his lip, rolled the vial of blood between the palms of his hands. He was also blushing, which was strange. "Nobody else would have given me this gift," he said, placing the vial away back into his breast pocket. "It's true, I don't have money for protective tattoos or other talismans. There's no way I would have come to this decision without you, Douglas. That's why I decided to give a gift back. I want to give you my virginity."

Douglas' brain nearly  _exploded_. Thank GOD he was half-human, otherwise the moment Martin said that, Douglas would've lunged forward, heaved Martin up against the controls and ravished him right then and there. It wouldn't have mattered if Martin suddenly changed his mind, Douglas would be too far gone to care.

" _Fuck_ ," Douglas wretched his head away. His hands gripped the handles of his chair so hard his knuckles went white. "Don't... don't  _say_  things like that to me."

"It's true, Douglas."

Douglas closed his eyes as if in pain. His cock was fully hard, pressing horribly against his trousers.

He couldn't.

He shouldn't.

God, he wanted to though, so badly...

He gasped as Martin's hand curled around his cheek, turning his head towards him. Douglas didn't even hear Martin get up from his seat.

Martin leaned forward- that fucking scent was everywhere, Douglas thought he was drowning in it- and pressed his lips against Douglas'.

The moment he did that, Douglas was gone.

 

 

 

 

When he regained full conscious of himself again, he was surprised to see he was still in the cockpit. He was laying on the floor, his clothes scattered about him, and the feeling of  _fullness_  was settled deep inside his body.

Martin was draped on top of him, asleep, nude as well. He had a few bite marks on his shoulders, hickeys on his neck. If the mere sight didn't tell Douglas what he had done, then the smell alone would have.

Sweat. Semen. Tears and blood. But the one scent missing from it all, was Martin's virginity. It was completely gone.

There were flashes of memory, drifting feelings of touch and taste. Douglas remembered kissing Martin, relishing his virgin taste, stripping him out of his clothes in heated frenzy. He remembered Arthur knocking at the cockpit door, and it was  _Martin_  who had to explain to him nothing was wrong, and told him to give them privacy. (How were they going to face Carolyn later, knowing  _Arthur_  was the one to tell her of their dirty deeds?)

Douglas recalled Martin arching up against him, gasping, begging for release, and denying him, because Douglas wanted to savior his untouched flesh like fine wine. Then finally,  _finally_  when Douglas allowed Martin his release, Douglas' name was immediately imprinted on Martin's soul. Not even St. Peter himself could erase that.

Sensing Douglas' movement, Martin stirred awake. He lifted his head from Douglas' chest, and smiled wearily. "Hey."

"Hello," Douglas said. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"Only a little," Martin said, shifting so he could get up and move away. It gave Douglas a better view of Martin's body and saw more bruises, more love bites on his chest and thighs. "But I'm okay. ...So, um... I suppose my immunity is finally gone, huh? I don't feel any different."

Douglas sat up, every cell in his body vibrating in satisfaction. Sex aside, the taste of Martin's flesh made Douglas feel like he was thirty years younger. "Let's find out."

In the palm of his hand, Douglas summoned a small blue flame. The flickering light was no bigger than a single birthday candle and yet it illuminated the cockpit brighter than any manmade torch.

Martin reached out, both fascinated and scared. He paused just before he touched it, then let his finger to brush against it.

He reared back, hissing in pain. "Ah!"

Douglas closed his fist, extinguishing the flame. "I guess that proves it. Are you okay with this?"

"I think it'll take me some time to get used to the idea," Martin said, staring at his redden finger. "I got all the time in the world now."


End file.
